What drew attention to it is the text. Look at the 7th line down, which says, “‘Yo, let’s get ’em. Let’s drive-by egg these transvestites”:

A close-up:

There is a second reference to egging “trannys” in the text, and the last line of the paragraph is “That was fun shit.” [And yes, I know “tranny” is a term used in skating, but it’s also clearly not what is being described here.]

That’s a shirt for kids, in case you forgot. For children. The clothing chain Zellers has pulled the shirt in Canada after complaints and ESPN has apologized.

It’s a good example of the normalization of harassing gender non-conformity, how we socialize boys into non-compassion for others, and the association of disrespectful behavior with being hip. “Trannys” aren’t really people whose feelings matter, they’re jokes, targets for youthful pranks, whose harassment would make a funny story later…or hopefully sell a lot of shirts now.

About Sociological Images

Sociological Images encourages people to exercise and develop their sociological imaginations with discussions of compelling visuals that span the breadth of sociological inquiry. Read more…